


The Emotions That Flow

by MissytheAngle



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Internal Conflict, Light Angst, short one-shot, wanted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 16:57:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11257071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissytheAngle/pseuds/MissytheAngle
Summary: After worrying about his fate for a few short but agonizing days, Connie feels so many things at the sight of Steven in his living room.





	The Emotions That Flow

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this came from; nothing much even happens here! Wanted just screwed me up so I eventually wrote this bad boy up. 
> 
> I just seriously think Connie's got a lot on her mind, with losing Steven. Yes, everyone does, no doubt, but well, her relationship with Steven is so close and sweet and wonderful.
> 
> Everyone else is there but aren't important so they aren't tagged. Thought about adding in the shipping tag for Steven and Connie, but eh, didn't think it really fit.

Steven stood in the middle of his living room, night resting over him and everyone else beside the warp pad. Connie felt a rush of emotions curl up in her stomach, none of which dominated, so she stood there, stone faced. Her mouth slowly curved into an oval, and the hush that crept into the air erupted in her eardrums.

Then almost everyone breezed across the living room and toward Steven, but Connie's reaction was slower and with less enthusiasm, arms not opened to envelop the boy she so dearly missed. Tears fell down her face, small ones that trickled like thin waterfalls. She didn’t even realize she was crying until her face warmed up.

Steven laughed but it was low, relief flowing from his features as he was hugged by his father, who reached him first. Soon the gems joined in the large embrace, gathering in a circle as they all knelt to the ground. Tears streamed down their cheeks, all of them; Garnet had even whisked away her visor to reveal three glossy, wet eyes.

A full thirty seconds passed of the family sharing a warm moment, the love flowing from them and all across the room. Connie felt it, though she did nothing with this feeling. Still standing there. Still blank faced. Still trying to convey all of her emotions.

_Shock._  A part of her wondered if she were merely drifting through a dark dream that would somehow morph into nightmare—or it would end here, in this very moment, and she would awaken in another sort of nightmare that never ended.

Except not ten minutes ago, Connie, Greg, and the gems had tired themselves to near collapse working on a ship Pearl and Peridot were constructing. Drenched in sweat and worry, they clocked in hours of designing a ship that would direct them to Homeworld. Pearl and Peridot argued over particular pieces of the ship that Connie learned were a struggle to find on Earth.

The air had been cold and unfriendly. There was no time for conversations, else they would end up in tears, mourning when they should be working. The hours had dragged on as they worked under the aggressive, harsh sun. Part of Connie had desired to return home, but all she would be doing there was blubbering into her pillow, imagining Steven holding her but feeling nothing.

Now, hope swelled again, so no, this couldn’t be a dream. It _couldn’t._

_Joy_ radiated from everyone. Their faces wore features that practically lit up the darkened room. All of their worst fears were no more. _Steven is alive; he’s here,_ she thought, certain that this was what was on everyone else’s mind.

Stress lifted off of her shoulders. A small smile painted her face.

The family separated, Steven wiping his tears from his face. His laughing quieted, and he moved back.

Their eyes locked. For the first time in a few days _,_ Steven and Connie’s gazes met again.

And a tumbling wave within Connie’s stomach crashed and crawled. Her heart stammered against her chest, and her breathing hitched, as if she were holding it all in until now.

_Relief_ washed over her. 

Connie had attempted to sleep the first night, dreading to wake up to the news that Steven still hadn’t returned. To awaken another day without Steven close by tore at her heart. She had ended up watching the dark skies and its blinking stars for hours and hours, curled into a ball in her bed, eyes wide open and red from so much crying. And that was only the first night. 

Her parents had stressed over their daughter’s emotional and mental health. Connie had tried to dismiss their worries, saying that she was going to be okay, but her face had betrayed her words.

The therapist could not help her. Not when they had no idea how to respond to her problems. “My best friend sacrificed himself for the greater good by being captured by alien gems for war crimes his mother committed, and I fear never seeing him ever again” was not something, Connie had understood, that any therapists could really help her with.

_Could Steven see the stars from where he is? Can he see the same stars?_ Connie had thought one night.  

In the present, Connie snapped out of her thoughtful stupor and realized she was still crying. Tears dropped in hot streams as she clasped her hands together, just below her lips. Steven’s soft smile graced his face, and it was filled with so much love that her mouth rose into a similar smile.

His smiles were always so contagious.  

After days of fearing the worst, those fears no longer needed to plague her mind.

_For now. Not until next time._

She sighed as this thought crawled into her head. It persisted, and her smile melted away. Something boiled in her stomach, a rather unwelcoming feeling that caught her off guard.  

_Anger._ Realization hit, and she blinked.

Her eyes drifted to the ground. His family started talking to him, talking over one another in the blaze of excitement, but their voices faded.  

She could have held his hand, kept it warm when they raced through the stars, when they planned and executed their escape. To be left on Earth while he traversed across galaxies to some unknown fate, she stared at him and felt something bitter roll inside her.

Connie made attempts to walk forward, letting the distance between them linger. That distance spoke volumes. Steven looked back at her, likely taking note of her lack of movement, and his face fell.

Part of her wanted to throw questions at him, questions that would be ripe with anger and pain. _Why did you think you needed to take this on alone? What made you believe you  needed to do such a stupid thing for us? It’s all just so… so dumb! Why? Why?!_

Knuckles cracking, she at last approached him, body posture stiff. The gems and Greg stepped away when they noticed her, and Steven turned to her again.   

Those questions nearly met her lips, her chest heaving, but then she looked at him. _Really_ looked at him.

Steven’s eyes trembled. Hidden away was that lingering sadness and terror, held back for the sake of others. Even if he was back on Earth, part of him still wandered on Homeworld.

She frowned.

Something rose in her chest, and her anger faded. Her lower lip quivered.

_Sadness._ Those nights staying up, she thought of Steven. Nothing but Steven entered her mind. What those gems would do to him, if he would return in one piece… even memories of them getting together, all their days spent training, hanging out and goofing off. They were all she had of him those few days. Even wielding her sword felt incomplete without knowing his shield would be there to protect them.

There was the shirt, however. He had given it to her when she mentioned wearing it that one day as a Crystal Temp. She started wearing it more often than not after he sacrificed himself. Even after a few weeks, his smell had still wafted over it.

Connie’s arms wrapped around him, head resting on his shoulder. Her hold was tight, part of her afraid he’d be gone if she released him. Her cheek rubbed against his. Sniffling, she muttered through a soaked face, “Don’t ever do that to us again… please.”

Steven didn’t respond with words. With a small, humorless laugh under his breath, he added to the tight embrace.

They would talk about this another day, where she’d chide him for just leaving her like that, when she could’ve helped him and made his nights on that ship less lonely. She would have made going to Homeworld—or wherever he was going—less frightening, because Jam Buds could do _anything._

As she hugged him, her feelings calmed and quieted, thudding less violently in her head. In Steven’s arms, and Steven in hers, she could feel his stress gradually falling away, as if realizing that his fears of being harmed by Homeworld gems were a concern for another day. For now, he could sleep in peace.

They stood there in each other’s arms, sharing the same feeling after being separated for what felt like an eternity.

_Love._


End file.
